Love, war and a fiddle

Soldiers and others watched them pass with interested looks because they carried musical instruments and there is not a human being on earth who does not have a favorite song, lacking only somebody to play it.

Paulette Jiles, Simon the Fiddler

Love and war have certain things in common. Each takes us out of our comfort zone. Both can be dangerous. Both can cause us do things we would not otherwise do.

And so we have the situation in Simon the Fiddler, the new novel from Paulette Jiles. Simon Boudin, a young introvert who wants only to play his fiddle and learn the secret he believes every song contains, manages to avoid conscription until the very end of the War Between the States, when he is forced into a Confederate uniform. His fiddle at least spares him from most front-line duty, and he is placed in an army band with a few other musicians.

The end of the war doesn't mean the end of danger for Simon, for by then he is in Texas, now mostly under military control while he and his mates lack proper discharge papers. Their instruments give them opportunities to make a little money, but also make it more difficult for them to stay under the radar.

So why not leave Texas and head for someplace safer? Because that's where Doris Dillon is. She is a pretty Irish immigrant pledged to serve the family of an army officer for a few years. That officer is a cruel man who has eyes for Doris himself, at least when his wife isn't around.

Simon has never met Doris, but he sees her at one of his performances, where he plays an Irish song for her. The pair carry on a secret correspondence, while he pursues her and tries to find a way to rescue her and then get her to marry him. Toward the latter end, he buys some property along the Red River, sight unseen. Why would a fiddler want to become a rancher? Because he believes land might be more of an enticement to this Irish girl than a fiddle. But he doesn't really know this Irish girl.

You may think you know how this is going to end, but Jiles will surprise you. This is a beautifully written, beautifully structured novel that explores new territory in that old story about love and war.